RENESENG -Renewable Systems Engineering: Project

Overview

Antonis C. KokossisNational Technical University of Athens

Kick-off meeting, Athens, 28 Nov. 2013

CONTEXT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

EU POLICY AND AIMS

• EU: well-positioned to spearhead 2nd generation bio economy– Sophisticated agricultural sector; – strong network of biochemical clusters– Strong commitment to GHG reduction– Dominant position in key technologies (enzymes,

biotechnology)• Competition: Brazil, USA, China• Niche: Competitors focused on biofuels and less on

other products

EXPECTATIONS IN EUROPE

Huge socio-economic benefits for 2020 (Bloomberg 2012) • Over 1,000 new biorefineries• Revenues in excess of €bn 32• Over 1 million new jobs

IMPORTANT ISSUES

• Capital requirements– Strong economies of scale: a facility twice the size may

cost 1.6 times more– Strong economies of learning: cost evolution expected

a strong downward slope– Synergies of co-location: significant scope to reduce

costs with parallel production of chemical and fuels• Further synergies– Integrate biochemical and thermochemical chains– Scope to build on existing facilities

THE ROAD AHEAD

• Scale up successful chemistries to pilots and plants• Build design expertise to improve material and energy

efficiencies• How? Develop technology to

– Support scale-up (costing, flowsheeting, screening)– Support modular bio refinery concept (regional diversifications)– Reduce experimentation with lab chemistries building

modeling and flowsheeting capabilities– Build process integration technologies– Build high-throughput capabilities due to the large number of

products and feedstocks

COSTING AND FLOWSHEETING

• Design technology from Chemical Industry– Often unreliable as bio refineries and essentially

different industries– Multiple feedstocks and unknown products (as against

fixed product/supplies in Oil & Gas)• Flowsheeting and modelling technology: missing– Important unit operation models– Multiple modelling layers (detailed vs conceptual)– Thermodynamic properties of intermediates and

products

INTEGRATION AND DIVERSFICIATION

• Important questions: supplies and products– Which feedstocks to use?– Which products or product portfolios?– Regional and market uncertainties– Co-location vs distributed production

• Important questions: technologies– Processing technologies to use?– Scope to combine technologies?– Scope to combine with existing installations?– Impact on anticipated improvements and technological

progress (technology uncertainty)?

RENESENG: Renewable systems engineeringA Marie Curie project to build systems engineering capabilities needed for the timely development of bio refineries

4-YEAR MARIE-CURIE PROJECT15 partners : 7 countries, 9 RI, 6 industial partners, 4 SMEs

EU contribution : 4 195 076 € Coordination : A. Kokossis

NTUACERTHHelector

DTU

SurreyImperial

BPFDLOTU Delft

ArkemaCIMV

EPFLQuantisETH

Bioenergy 2020+

RENESENG COMPETENCIES

• Research expertise: the leading groups in PSE and agricultural engineering• Expertise: process & property modelling, process integration and process

intensification, knowledge modelling, LCA tools and methods• Some of the most active industrial partners in the area

1. NTUAProcess synthesis, Optimization,

Process design, Modelling

2. EPFLProcess integration

Energy systems design and engineering Industrial ecology

3. ImperialMultiscale modelling techniques

Process and energy systemsengineering

4. DTUComputer aided method tools, Sustainableprocess, Network design, Multiscale modelling

5. CERTHImproved and integrated

exploitation of solid/alternative fuel and their by-products

6.UoSBiorefining Systems Approaches, Systems & Multiscale Modelling,

Knowledge Modelling

HELECTORMechanical BiologicalTreatment

Biomass reactor designBiomass pyrolysis/gasification reactors

8. CIMVBiorefining Technology

9. QUANTISLife cycle assessment

7. WURProduction of bio-energy,

biobased chemicals & sustainable industrial raw material

BE2020Sustainable biomass supply

chain concepts, Biomass fuel characterization, Biomass combustion technology

10. BPFLife Sciences and Materials

Sciences (alternative energy, bio-based materials, etc.)

11. ARKEMAVegetable oil Biorefineries, and

Economic Evaluation of Biorefinery units

TUDIndustrial biotechnology:

Fermentation, Biocatalysis, Downstream Processing

ETH Life cycle analysis/costing,

sustainableprocess design, earlydesign predictive modeling

ASSOCIATED PARTNERS

FULL PARTNERS

RENESENG APPROACH

• Deliverables: research and tools, training, dissemination – 4 core WPs packages that address fundamentals – 2 WPs in validation and software development– 2 WP on training, multi-center schools and workshops– 1 WP on dissemination, outreach activities, spin-offs

RESEARCH STRUCTURE

• Multi-disciplinary, multi-layered approach• Fundamental research

– Mathematical modelling and multi-scale applications– Process integration– Supply chains and synthesis– Life Cycle Analysis

Value chain networks, each composed of a number of plants and logistic subsystems

Individual processes, each producing one or several major final products or intermediate products, e.g. pyrolysis plant, gasification plant, bioethanolplant, etc..

Individual pieces of equipment, e.g. fermenter, gasifier, PBR, digester, etc.

Equipment compartments, e.g. CO2-spurging and light-supply sections in a PBR, liquid phase and gas phase in a digester, etc.

Levels of system decomposition Levels of modelling and decision making

Required model granularity

Fine

CoarseLevel 3: Screening

processing paths and designing value chain

networks

Level 2b: Designing integrated processes

Level 2a: Designing intensified equipment

Level 1: Modelling to prepare building blocks

for model-based decision making

LCAintegrated

network

Renewable engineering validation, evaluation, and on-site

training

Systems tools and software

PROJECT VISION

• Fill in gap on missing– Process engineering, process equipment models– Thermodynamic properties and LCA– Cost models and scale-up correlations

• New generation of tools– Process integration and synthesis– Tools that screen and scope for innovative designs

• Libraries of flowsheets and engineering data• Dedicated, user-friendly software to share with and

sell to the public

TRAINING OBJECTIVES• Multicenter PhD training program and long term

collaborations• Shape up an emerging engineering profile in bio

renewable systems engineering with – The active participation of industries– Strong multi-disciplinary capabilities

• Workforce to support sustainable processing technologies and– Deliver engineering solutions to new and complex

problems– Develop and use systems tools that promote innovation,

creative & holistic thinking

DISSEMINATION

• Create hub to share and trade knowledge– Link space for knowledge and information– Data and model sharing and exchange

• Create and support a platform to integrate applications in biorenewables– Integrate different applications, also with

commercial software (CAPE-OPEN)– Industrial validation – Prototype software for commercial use

KEY RENESENG FEATURESSupporting the creation of a new discipline

INDUSTRIALLY RELEVANT, INDUSTRIALLY VALIDATED MODELS

• Industrial expertise in: – lignocellulosic, oleochemical, water and waste biorefineries

• Capitalize on experience and produce reliable models in – Process unit operations (fermentation, gasification etc)– Substrates and phase equilibria

• Costing: reliable estimates of CAPEX, OPEX• Shortcut models for process units, cost and LCA

BUILDING HIGH-THROUGHPUT CAPACITY

• Stage-wise screening

• Analysis of uncertainties in technologies, feedstock supplies and products

HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL INTEGRATION

• Integration of supplies– Agricultural residues, forestry hardwood,

macro and micro-algae– Common feedstocks, intermediates,

• Integration of chemical paths and supply chains– Integration of technologies and processing

paths– Consolidation of supplies to viable plant sizes

• Process integration– Process and energy integration– Process-to-process integration

MULTIPLE PRODUCTS, MODULARITY

• Differentiation with respect to – Regional priorities and access to supplies– Collocation opportunities– Capacity of supplies and targeted markets

SOFTWARE INTEGRATION, SHARING COMMUNITIES

• User-friendly environments to support decisions of policy makers

• Technology to search, link and automate the launch of integrated applications

• Open environments to share and integrate models (ontology engineering)

What is the Potential to Profit from Agricultural Residues in Reims?

WORKING TOGETHER TOWARDS A NEW SYSTEMS ENGINEERING BRANCH

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